Hair Care

For those who follow me on social media, you may be aware that I recently got my hair re-highlighted. The process of bleaching ones hair can really strip it of life and hydration so I immediately needed to invest in some new hair care products. I bought all of these products from Feel Unique but they can also be found in many high street salons. My hair is medium thick, wavy, frizzy, unruly and the ends are very dry and damaged.

Kérastase always deliver on their claims and so I chose the Kérastase Resistance Sérum Thérapiste. This is a hair serum to be applied to wet or dry hair which claims to protect against heat damage and seal split ends to improve smoothness of the hair shaft. The product dispenses from a dual pump, one with a cream and the other is an oil which you mix in your palms and apply through the mid-lengths and ends of the hair. I use around 3 pumps for the whole of my hair before blow drying and straightening it. I’ve found that this product improves the appearance of my split ends and gives my hair a lot of shine without weighing it down. It is a great product to use when I’m straightening my hair as it works with the heat to smooth the hair shaft giving very professional results, however because of the price I’m less inclined to use it day-t0-day. Also, like all Kérastase products, it leaves my hair smelling like I just like the hair salon.

A day-to-day option for me is the Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence. I use the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer regularly so I really trust this brand. The Daily Damage Defence spray is your classic leave in conditioner spray that adds elasticity and provides defence from daily heat styling, breakage and environmental effects. It is designed for all hair types for use on wet hair after washing or into dry hair to remove frizz and static. This is probably one of the best heat defense sprays I’ve used to date. I spray a few pumps of this through wet hair before blow drying and it reduces frizz, adds shine whilst adding bounce and bounce. It makes my hair really manageable for day-to-day styling.

For when I’m wearing my hair in a curlier style or when the weather is particularly humid I always need a bit more frizz control. I’ve had my eye on this brand for a long time so I thought to pick up two of their products.Firstly the Moroccanoil Frizz Control Sprayis a fantastic product for doing exactly what it says on the packaging. When I spray my hair with this product it immediately removes all frizz and it prevents it from forming again in adverse weather conditions. It doesn’t provide any heat protection so I use it in conjunction with a heat-spray. The formula also contains argan oil and vitamin E to deeply condition the hair.

The product I want to rave about however is theMoroccanoil treatment. This is a hair treatment oil containing argan oil and vitamins which can be used in wet hair for conditioning and for styling after it has been dried. This hair oil is INCREDIBLE for giving me smooth, luscious locks. I will say that if you have thin hair you should probably avoid this because it’s quite a heavy, thick oil. I’m aware that a light version is available too but I can’t attest to whether it works as well. Nonetheless, due to this product alone I have been able to wear my hair completely naturally which is something I haven’t done in years. It helps define curls and waves, removes all fly-away and frizz and gives you that hair you just want to run your fingers through!

Have you tried any of these products before? What new hair care or styling products have you tried recently? Comment below and let me know 🙂

I have always loved big curly hair and up until my teens my hair was naturally curly, however after years of heat styling my curls have become more of a frizzy mess than a defined curl. I always look enviously at women who have natural corkscrew curls and when I discovered this hair tool that promises such hair I knew I had to try it out. I bought the Lee Stafford Chopstick Curler from Argos for just £19.99 which is a ridiculously cheap for a hair styling tool.

The barrel of this tong is just 7-10mm wide and it isn’t completely round but more of a flat rectangular shape. It heats up extremely quickly in just 10 seconds, and has a maximum temperature of 200 degrees celsius. I find that 5-7 seconds is all it takes to curl a piece of hair depending on the thickness.

It took a few attempts for me to learn how to use this styler but once I got the technique down I loved the results it gave me. I changed the thickness of each piece to achieve a natural curly hair look. Before curling my hair I made sure to use a heat protectant and a product that will set the curl. It take around 45 minutes to curl the whole head of hair. After my hair was done I used a few pumps of L’Oreal Elvive Extraodirinary Oil and ran my fingers through my hair to add shine and remove frizz. This was the finished look. ->

This is the styler I turn to when I want to turn heads with my hair. I would 100% recommend this curler if you want big, sexy, diva, corkscrew curls and you have long hair below the shoulders.

Hey guys! I don’t know about you but I was not ready for this morning, I swear I need another day after the weekend, to recover from the weekend 🙂

This post is going to be about my favourite hair styling products. I’ve got long, frizzy hair so I need to use a lot of products to tame my mane. Now this is just a small percentage of the products that I use, but these are the best of the best in my opinion, so let’s get right into it…

1) Batiste Dry Shampoo (Oriental). Who doesn’t love a dry shampoo? Batiste were probably one of the first brands to introduce this product onto the market and they are one of the best affordable brands out there. This product it my go-to for day 3 hair or when I need a bit of volume at the roots as it absorbs extra oil and gives some root lift. Oh and it smells amazing too!

2) Kérastase Resistance Ciment Thermique Resurfacing Reinforcing Milk. This is an amazing product to use when I’m straightening my hair. It makes my hair so much more manageable, soft and shiny without weighing it down. It contains a polymer which coats the hair strands and protects it from split ends and breakage. Kerastase is widely used in hair salons so it is a great brand, although pricey. Also when I use this my hair smells like it does after I visit the salon, now who doesn’t want that!?

3) It’s A 10 Miracle Leave-In Conditioner. This product has a cult following and for good reason too. I use this when using curling tongs on my hair. It repairs dry damaged hair, adds shine, smooths & controls frizz, protects hair colour, heat protector, detangles, stops hair breakage, creates silkiness, adds volume and prevents split ends. My hair looks and feels stronger when using this product and I am confident that my hair is protected when using this. The only downside is that it is very expensive and you have to use a lot of product to coat the hair.

4) L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil UV Filter. This is the product I go through the most. There are two versions, the one pictured is for coloured hair but I prefer the version for all hair types. On a day to day basis when I wear heat-free curls I need a product to de-frizz, add moisture and shine without destroying the curl. This product does just that and costs under £10. I use it before and after styling too, it is such a versatile product and one I shall keep repurchasing.

5) Bumble and bumble Thickening Hairspray. As my hair is long it can feel very weighed down and especially when I straighten my hair it can look quite flat. This product is amazing at giving my hair a lot of thickness and tonnes of volume. I spray it in my hair before blow-drying and after styling. I don’t use it very often, but when I do I am guaranteed big, sexy, voluminous hair, I love it!

I hope you enjoyed this post, now it’s time to tell me what your favourite hair styling products are! Comment below and let me know 🙂

Throughout university I rocked short hair. Admittedly I really miss having it at this length, it made me feel edgy and badass whenever I felt the back of my head being buzzed. Alas times have changed and I decided to grow my hair which is now halfway down my back. I always get asked how my hair has grown so quickly, so here are my top three tips to growing healthy long hair.

1) Get a trim regularly. You probably know this one already but I really can’t stress this enough. Regular trims will reduce the number of split ends you get and will stop the split end growing up the shaft of the hair. I have a trim every 8 weeks now cutting maybe half an inch each time. When my hair was in that awkward-mullet stage of growing I got a trim every 4-6 weeks This may sound counterproductive but really it’s the only way to grow healthy hair.

2) Deep condition your hair AND your scalp. Once a week I deep condition my hair and scalp with coconut oil and hair masks. Coconut oil strengthens the hair but also moisturises the scalp. Think of it like fertilising the soil for the plants to grow. I make sure to really massage the scalp to improve circulation.

3) Reduce heat tools. Heat styling causes hair to become weaker over time, allowing way for breakage and split ends. Since having reduce heat styling my hair has become stronger and has grown even longer!

A few months ago I decided that I was going to cut down on using heat styling tools on my hair. However, I wasn’t prepared to bare my wild, frizzy mane just like that, I wanted to find an easy style that looks polished but also without heat. It’s been 2 months since I discovered how to do this style and I haven’t used heat on my hair since which has dramatically reduced the amount of split ends I’m getting. For this tutorial I used these foam twist bun makers. I bought 4 from an Ebay seller in China and they cost no more than £1 each! There are loads of different shapes available from hundreds of different sellers so you’re sure to find some.

Step 2) Apply hold styling product like gel or mousse. I then use around 6 pumps of the L’Oréal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Oil through the bottom half of my hair to reduce frizz.

Step 3) Let hair air dry until it’s 80% dry. If you’re in a rush use a hairdryer on cool setting and lowest speed.

Step 4) Comb through hair. Start from the bottom and work up to the roots. Section hair into 4 equal parts.

Step 5) I have long hair so I hold the foam halfway down my hair and wrap the section around. Fold the ends to secure. For this look curl hair away from the face. I twist my hair around 4-5 times around the foam. Step 6) Leave in for at least 8 hours. I usually do this overnight. Step 7) Unfold foam and take out of hair. Step 8) Style hair. Take a medium paddle brush and start brushing out from the bottom. Brush each section from the underneath. Use your fingers to separate curls. Set style with hairspray, I use the Bumble & Bumble Thickening Hairspray. Tips:

1) The more wet your hair is and the longer you leave the foam in the longer the curls are going to last. Usually with the above method the style will last a whole day. You can put the foams in again overnight to refresh the style.

2) The more twists you do around the foam makes tighter curls. If you want retro 40/50’s curls try twisting the curls towards your face and brushing towards the face. You can achieve a number of different styles so just play around with it and see what suits you.

3) If you have fine hair skip the hair oil and maybe just use a volumising hair mousse/spray.

I hope you found this tutorial interesting! It takes a few tries to perfect the method when using these foam curlers but once you get the hang of it it really does the trick.

It’s Wednesday today, I last washed my hair on Sunday. This morning my hair was looking a little bit greasy so I tried this dry shampoo from Aussie. I bought a massive 180ml can from Boots for £4.99.

This dry shampoo is different to others I’ve used. When I spray it, it doesn’t coat my hair with the powdery white stuff that dry shampoo normally does. Instead it comes out exactly like a hairspray. In fact it makes my hair a little bit wet. Once brushed through it does a good job of absorbing extra oil and giving a bit of life back to my hair. Also the smell is really nice just like all Aussie products.

On one hand I like this dry shampoo as it smells good and does the job of absorbing oil. On the other hand I’m not a fan of the hairspray feel to this, some may feel it is has too much silicone/ stickiness to it. It’s a decent product for sure but I think I’ll try a different one next time.

Around 6 months ago I decided to take the plunge and go SLS free. So what is SLS? Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) works as a surfactant, it creates the rich lather which most of us experience when washing our hair with commercial shampoos. It is a detergent and can strip the scalp of many of our natural oils.

Here are a few things I learnt when using SLS free shampoo…

1) You will go through the transition period. For the first few weeks of using an SLS free shampoo my scalp got oilier much quicker, I was having to wash my hair every other day (usually I have a 2 day gap in between washing). This is because your scalp is so used to being stripped of the oils. Don’t worry though, your scalp will eventually calibrate itself and you can reduce the frequency of washing.

2) Your fingers are your best friend. Now this is a bit gross but it’s quite important to know. Between months 2 and 4 I experienced extreme itchiness and scabs on my scalp. I mean I would itch my scalp and would be able to peel bits of my scalp off (I did warn you). I did some research online and it seems a lot of people get this scalp build up because the shampoo isn’t lifting the dirt and grime away. This is where your fingers come into play. As SLS-free shampoo doesn’t foam or lather as well as normal shampoo you really have to work the product into your scalp for a few minutes by physically massaging and scrubbing your scalp. Since changing the way I wash my hair I have not experienced the scabby-scalp issue. If you have long hair (below your shoulders), or if you use a lot of product, you may also need to double rinse your hair to make sure all the dirt is lifted out.

3) Your hair colour will last longer. I dyed the ends of my hair with semi-permanent dye 3 months ago. The colour was supposed to last 6 weeks but it still hasn’t washed out. This is great news if you dye your hair often.

4) It will cost you more money. SLS-free shampoos are way more expensive than SLS shampoos at this current point in time. Also you will be using a greater quantity of it if you are double rinsing.

5) Your scalp will be happier in the long run. 6 months after going SLS-free I can happily say that my scalp has adjusted to the new shampoo, it feels healthier, my hair and scalp aren’t as dry, my hair is falling out less and my colour has lasted longer.

Jay x

About Me

Hi, my name is Jay and I'm a beauty junkie.
I'm 26, a Londoner born and raised. My day job involves dealing with the Quality Assurance of cosmetics where I'm constantly building my knowledge on ingredients and product safety. I'm always looking for the newest cosmetics with the most potent ingredients to try and review for you guys.
For me prevention is better than cure, so I look for products that will prevent premature ageing and long term damage.
Outside of blogging and working, I love cooking, eating, gymming, travelling, reading, watching TV series/films oh and I'm a massive hip-hop head :)
If you would you like to get in touch for PR/brand promotion you can email me at:
justjaybeautyblog@gmail.com
(Please note that I will only give HONEST reviews).
Hope to hear from you soon!
Jay x